Pow"er, n. [OE. pouer,
poer, OF. poeir, pooir, F. pouvoir, n. &
v., fr. LL. potere, for L. posse, potesse, to be
able, to have power. See Possible, Potent, and cf.
Posse comitatus.] 1. Ability to act,
regarded as latent or inherent; the faculty of doing or performing
something; capacity for action or performance; capability of producing
an effect, whether physical or moral: potency; might; as, a man of
great power; the power of capillary attraction; money
gives power. "One next himself in power, and next
in crime." Milton.
2. Ability, regarded as put forth or exerted;
strength, force, or energy in action; as, the power of steam in
moving an engine; the power of truth, or of argument, in
producing conviction; the power of enthusiasm. "The
power of fancy." Shak.
3. Capacity of undergoing or suffering;
fitness to be acted upon; susceptibility; -- called also passive
power; as, great power of endurance.
Power, then, is active and passive; faculty is
active power or capacity; capacity is passive
power.
Sir W. Hamilton.
4. The exercise of a faculty; the employment
of strength; the exercise of any kind of control; influence; dominion;
sway; command; government.
Power is no blessing in itself but when it is
employed to protect the innocent.
Swift.
5. The agent exercising an ability to act; an
individual invested with authority; an institution, or government,
which exercises control; as, the great powers of Europe; hence,
often, a superhuman agent; a spirit; a divinity. "The
powers of darkness." Milton.
And the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken.
Matt. xxiv. 29.
6. A military or naval force; an army or navy;
a great host. Spenser.
Never such a power . . .
Was levied in the body of a land.
Shak.
7. A large quantity; a great number; as, a
power o? good things. [Colloq.] Richardson.
8. (Mech.) (a) The rate
at which mechanical energy is exerted or mechanical work performed, as
by an engine or other machine, or an animal, working continuously; as,
an engine of twenty horse power.
☞ The English unit of power used most commonly is the horse
power. See Horse power.
(b) A mechanical agent; that from which useful
mechanical energy is derived; as, water power; steam
power; hand power, etc. (c)
Applied force; force producing motion or pressure; as, the
power applied at one and of a lever to lift a weight at the
other end.
☞ This use in mechanics, of power as a synonym for
force, is improper and is becoming obsolete.
(d) A machine acted upon by an animal, and
serving as a motor to drive other machinery; as, a dog
power.
☞ Power is used adjectively, denoting, driven, or
adapted to be driven, by machinery, and not actuated directly by the
hand or foot; as, a power lathe; a power loom; a
power press.
9. (Math.) The product arising from the
multiplication of a number into itself; as, a square is the second
power, and a cube is third power, of a number.
10. (Metaph.) Mental or moral ability
to act; one of the faculties which are possessed by the mind or soul;
as, the power of thinking, reasoning, judging, willing,
fearing, hoping, etc. I. Watts.
The guiltiness of my mind, the sudden surprise of my
powers, drove the grossness . . . into a received
belief.
Shak.
11. (Optics) The degree to which a
lens, mirror, or any optical instrument, magnifies; in the telescope,
and usually in the microscope, the number of times it multiplies, or
augments, the apparent diameter of an object; sometimes, in
microscopes, the number of times it multiplies the apparent
surface.
12. (Law) An authority enabling a
person to dispose of an interest vested either in himself or in
another person; ownership by appointment. Wharton.
13. Hence, vested authority to act in a given
case; as, the business was referred to a committee with
power.
☞ Power may be predicated of inanimate agents, like the
winds and waves, electricity and magnetism, gravitation, etc., or of
animal and intelligent beings; and when predicated of these beings, it
may indicate physical, mental, or moral ability or capacity.
Mechanical powers. See under
Mechanical. -- Power loom, or
Power press. See Def. 8 (d),
note. -- Power of attorney. See under
Attorney. -- Power of a point (relative
to a given curve) (Geom.), the result of substituting the
coördinates of any point in that expression which being put equal
to zero forms the equation of the curve; as, x2 +
y2 - 100 is the power of the point x, y,
relative to the circle x2 + y2 - 100 =
0.